The Los Angeles Lakers have made some epic draft picks over the years. Here are the 10 best.
Jun 25, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; D’Angelo Russell (Ohio State) shakes hands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number two overall pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers are unquestionably focused on the 2016 NBA Draft coming out of the 2015-16 season. After picking up lottery picks in the past two drafts in Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell, the Lakers are unquestionably looking to add another high-caliber young player to their core as the rebuilding project wears on (assuming and praying that they keep the top-three protected first-round pick).
Hitting big on a draft prospect can change the fortunes of a franchise. In the modern NBA, we see instances of that with the likes of Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis turning Oklahoma City Thunder and the New Orleans Pelicans, respectively, into either teams on the rise or perennial title contenders after their teams used a top lottery pick to select them.
The Lakers are no exception to this, either, as draft picks over the history of the franchise have changed the direction of the team for years to come. However, the Lakers are interesting in the fact that the most important player to the organization over the past 20 years in Kobe Bryant wasn’t actually selected by the Lakers.
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In the 1996 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets selected Bryant with the No. 13 overall pick. However, Bryant was promptly traded to the Lakers in exchange for center Vlade Divac. While there are players on this list who were selected via draft-day trades, the trade for Bryant with the Hornets wasn’t completed until days after the draft. All of that is to say, he wasn’t technically selected by the Lakers in the ’96 Draft.
There’s really no debate about the soon-to-be-retired Kobe’s impact on the Lakers organization, but this is an organization with success that goes unmatched by most other franchises over the course of the NBA. That doesn’t happen without the draft.
Even without Kobe in the fold, the Lakers have had a multitude of draft picks positively change the franchise over their decorated history. These are the 10 most important draft picks in Lakers history.
Next: No. 10 Jordan Clarkson
10. Jordan Clarkson (Round 2, Pick 46, 2014)
Perhaps this might be a bit premature, but finding a player like Jordan Clarkson in the 2014 NBA Draft is absolutely huge for the Lakers in their current state of affairs. The Lakers acquired the No. 46 pick in the 2014 Draft for cash considerations in a draft day trade with the Washington Wizards and Clarkson was the who they wound up with.
There’s a good chance that the Lakers didn’t expect anything out of Clarkson as a rookie or possibly even expect that much for his career in Los Angeles. However, he established himself as one of the most consistent forces on the team last season and is almost surely the best player on the roster this season in terms of production, consistency, and generally not making horrendously poor decisions.
Clarkson still has a ways to go in terms of developing and growing as a player, particularly on the defensive end and in terms of his overall playmaking. His ability to score and the development of his jumper are already impressive, though.
The value and potential impact of the Clarkson selection is enormous. While adding a couple of lottery picks in the past two seasons is undeniably important, adding a potential cornerstone piece to a rebuild with a second-round pick is huge for the Lakers. He still has a ton of basketball ahead of him to determine just how good of a move it was for Los Angeles, but it looks hugely important to the Lakers as of right now.
Next: No. 9 Clyde Lovellette
9. Clyde Lovellette (Round 1, Pick 9, 1952)
With their first-round pick in the 1952 NBA Draft, the then Minneapolis Lakers selected a big man out of Kansas by the name of Clyde Lovellette. Lovellette immediately made an enormous impact on the Lakers organization, helping lead them to a title in 1954 in just his second season in the league.
Lovellette played four seasons with the Lakers and was phenomenal in his time there. The 6-9 forward-center averaged 17.9 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, but it was the mismatches he created in against virtually every opponent. Lovellette had the ability to stretch the floor slightly before that was a common thing in the game. As a big man, he could step out and knock down short jumpers away from the rim, meaning that opposing big men would have to play out of position to defend him.
Lovellette wasn’t around long with the Lakers as he left after the 1957 season, but he helped bring them to glory upon his arrival and brief tenure with the team. He was a big man uncommon to the era with his versatility at his size. Had he been a Laker for life, he’d certainly have been higher on this list, but his impact still deserves a spot in the Top 10.
Next: No. 8 Andrew Bynum
8. Andrew Bynum (Round 1, Pick 10, 2005)
There are obviously many strong opinions to be had about Andrew Bynum and his time in the NBA, however, there’s also no denying that there was at least a period with the Lakers when he had an enormous effect on the team. Though he was hardly the featured player, his presence in the frontcourt undoubtedly aided the Lakers in winning the title in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Granted that the teams with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol around Bynum were incredible, they were just plain dominant with the big center in Bynum on the floor. Even in the year they didn’t win the title in the 2010-11 season, Bynum’s dominance was evident as the Lakers put up 121 points per 100 possessions and gave up merely 100 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. A net-rating of +21 is just absurd, but Bynum was good enough for the Lakers for it to be possible.
Despite the headaches he caused later on, Bynum was also a big reason for the Lakers’ relevance after those two championships. When healthy, he was a beast down low and it’s a shame that he couldn’t stay healthy and always seemed to be entrenched in some sort of controversy.
Next: No. 7 Marc Gasol
7. Marc Gasol (Round 2, Pick 48, 2007)
Marc Gasol has never played a minute for the Lakers, but that doesn’t mean that selecting him in the second round of the 2007 Draft is any less important to the franchise. Most importantly, the draft rights Marc Gasol was one of the key pieces that got the 2008 trade that brought his brother Pau Gasol to Los Angeles done.
Sure, Marc Gasol has gone on to do great things for the Memphis Grizzlies and is a player that the Lakers would surely like to have on the roster nowadays. However, Pau’s presence was undeniably great for the team and for Kobe. In his five full seasons with the Lakers, the older of the Gasol brothers averaged 17.7 points, 10 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game, affecting the team positively in every aspect imaginable.
There’s no way that the Lakers win the title in back-to-back years in 2009 and 2010 if Pau Gasol isn’t in the mix, even with Kobe playing out of his mind. Pau was at the peak of his game and was simply an unstoppable force while also serving as the perfect counterpart at the time to Kobe, all made possible and available to the Lakers by way of the Marc Gasol pick.
Next: No. 6 Derek Fisher
6. Derek Fisher (Round 1, Pick 24, 1996)
Simply looking at the statistics of Derek Fisher over his career does a disservice to the point guard in terms of assessing his value to the Lakers. Fisher was one of the guiding voices and secondary leader for the team over the course of two decades as the team adjusted from era to different era over that time.
For his career, Fisher’s production is nothing to write home about. In his 13 seasons with the Lakers, Fisher merely averaged 7.9 points, 2.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting only 40.2 percent from the floor. Moreover, his peak season saw him average only 11.5 points, 4.4 assists, three rebounds, and two steals per game. As previously stated, though, the stats don’t paint the full picture in regards to the importance of Fisher to the Lakers.
Moreover, even just talking about his leadership and what that meant to the Lakers doesn’t take into account his knack for knocking down big shots. While he may not be “Big Shot” Rob (Robert Horry), Fisher certainly made his name known at the end of games when the Lakers needed a big bucket. Obviously there’s none more famous or important, though as the famous 0.4-second miracle. Oh yeah, he also just happened to be around to help Kobe attain five titles in Los Angeles.
Next: No. 5 Gail Goodrich
5. Gail Goodrich (Territorial Pick, 1965)
In the early stages of the NBA, the league wanted to endear the local fans of teams, thus resulting in territorial picks that brought in local college players to professional teams. Thus, that’s how the Lakers wound up with one of the most underrated players in their history. In the 1965 NBA Draft, the Lakers used their territorial pick to select a guard out of the famed UCLA program: Gail Goodrich. That was a move they would reap the benefits from going forward.
A five-time All Star (four of those appearances coming with the Lakers), Goodrich played nine seasons with the Lakers. For those nine years, the guard averaged 19 points, 4.2 assists, three rebounds and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 46 percent from the field. He was a guy that could fill the box score in a variety of ways and almost always went onto the floor and did just that for the Lakers.
Goodrich was a fantastic guard in every sense, displaying the ability to score, facilitate, and defend at an elite level for almost a decade. Moreover, Goodrich’s prowess with the Lakers was a driving force in the team’s legendary 33-game win-streak in the 1971-72 season, a season where they would also go on to win the title.
Next: No. 4 James Worthy
4. James Worthy (Round 1, Pick 1, 1982)
As if the Lakers weren’t already going to be dominant after the arrival of Magic Johnson (we’ll get there), they also added James Worthy out of North Carolina with the top-overall pick in the 1982 NBA Draft, fresh off of winning the 1982 NCAA Championship alongside some freshman named Michael Jordan. While he wasn’t Jordan, Worthy would go onto a long and fantastically productive career over his 12 seasons spent with the Lakers.
Over his run of seven consecutive All Star selections from 1986-92, the Hall-of-Famer was a beast for the Lakers. Worthy averaged 20.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game on incredibly efficient 52.7 percent shooting over that time. Just as an overall basketball player, Worthy’s impact on the Lakers during his tenure in the league is evident.
However, that all pales in comparison to his deserved label as “Big Game” James that he earned with his prowess in the playoffs. Throughout the three title-runs that he enjoyed in Los Angeles, Worthy was tremendously effective in the postseason in leading his teams to the championship. The big man simply had a way of turning it up a notch for the big moments and getting the job done whenever the stakes were at their highest.
Next: No. 3 Elgin Baylor
3. Elgin Baylor (Round 1, Pick 1, 1958)
You can talk about the competition of different eras as much as you want, but the numbers that Elgin Baylor put up with the Lakers when he was at his peak were just ungodly. Over his four-year peak with the Lakers, the forward averaged an absolutely absurd 33.8 points and 17.1 rebounds per game, numbers that would knock fans on their backs if we saw them today as averages for one season, much less over four years.
The unfortunate part of Baylor’s career is that the Hall of Fame big man never captured a ring for a team that has made a living off of winning championships over the past half-century or so. However, there’s no denying what he was able to do as a whole over his career, beyond just his incredible four-year peak. For his career from 1958-72 (though he only played 11 games from 1970-72) Baylor averaged 27.4 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists. That’s just incredible production from a big man, no matter if he’s playing in a different era of the NBA or in a youth league at the local YMCA.
Baylor often gets overlooked to a certain degree in terms of all time Lakers greats, largely because he never brought the team a title (thanks a lot, Bill Russell). However, those Lakers teams wouldn’t have even been relevant if it weren’t for the 11-time All-Star in Baylor.
Next: No. 2 Jerry West
2. Jerry West (Round 1, Pick 2, 1960)
Jerry West is “The Logo.” The explanation could honestly stop right there of why he’s important to the Lakers as the No. 2 pick in the 1960 NBA Draft.
West was unreal over his illustrious career in Los Angeles. He created a period of success that lasted through multiple eras for the organization, ultimately culminating with West as a veteran leader during the 1971-72 season that again included a title and an NBA-record 33-game winning streak.
The Logo could do it all, though, and he did it all for an incredibly sustained period. Over nine seasons with the Lakers from 1961-70 West averaged an absurd 29.3 points, 6.1 assists, and 6.1 rebounds per game. Even more incredibly, one of his best seasons of that stretch came at the end during the 1969-70 campaign where he put up 31.2 points, 7.5 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting a remarkable 49.7 percent from the floor. He not only enjoyed success, but sustained that level of greatness for an impressively long period of time.
Moreover, you can’t discredit what West meant to the Lakers when he was done playing as he served as both a coach and executive for the team. After all, he is the man who was running the franchise during the famed Showtime era, which has to mean something. That probably doesn’t happen if the Lakers hadn’t selected him back in 1960.
If not for a certain player from Michigan State, West would unquestionably top this list.
Next: No. 1 Magic Johnson
1. Earvin “Magic” Johnson (Round 1, Pick 1, 1979)
Like there was ever any doubt that Magic Johnson would be at the top of this list. By any calculation, Magic is one of the three-to-five best basketball players to ever walk on the planet. He ushered in an unprecedented era of sustained success and championships for the Lakers with the arrival of Showtime and did so with a smile and brilliance that is still regarded to this day.
The accolades and superlatives that could be handed out to Magic are essentially endless. For his career, 19.5 points, 11.2 assists, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game. Despite not being a great shooter or even a terrific all-around scorer, his ability to make plays and facilitate was unmatched at the time and has probably never been rivaled in the history of the game. Players of his size and athleticism just aren’t made as skilled and intelligent in the constructs of a basketball game as Magic was.
Until LeBron James, the NBA had never seen a player with the effective versatility of Magic. He could essentially play any position that he wanted or that the Lakers needed him to and play it at an elite level. Five rings over his shortened career don’t hurt his case, either, but there’s no real debate that Magic is the greatest draft pick in the history of the Lakers.